The UPF-Centre for Animal Ethics urges all European countries to join the boycott against 119 Icelandic “blood farms” called for by 17 NGOs (see https://www.eurogroupforanimals.org/news/blood-farms-iceland-official-efta-complaint-filed). 

Pregnant Mare Serum Gonadotropin (PMSG) is extracted from pregnant mares in Iceland at “blood farms”, converted into powder and shipped around Europe and much of the world. The serum is employed to increase reproduction in pigs, cows and other animals: mares are exploited so that other mothers can be exploited even more. 

The extraction of large quantities of blood from pregnant mares is extremely stressful for them and, as undercover footage reveals, it is conducted in violent and unhygienic conditions. There is, moreover, gratuitous brutality at blood farms, and various mares are visibly wounded, bleeding and exhausted. Most Icelanders are unaware of this maltreatment. Journalists investigating the issue have been attacked while businesses deny the clear video evidence. https://www.eurogroupforanimals.org/news/reprieve-until-2025-blood-farms-iceland).

“Blood farms” also exist in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and the USA (see e.g. https://www.animal-welfare-foundation.org/en/projekte/blood-farms/south-america and https://www.humanedecisions.com/the-cruelty-of-horse-blood-farms/) 

The EU Commission and Parliament must immediately ban producing and importing this hormone.

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